Prime Your Fire Pump: Chicago Fire at Los Angeles Galaxy

OTF Match Previews return for the start of the 2015 campaign. Jon Denham wants you to take in tonight’s left coast opener with an open mind…

There’s never more optimism in sports than the day a season officially begins. And tonight, it begins for Chicago Fire Soccer Club.

It begins for the 2015 OTF Soccer match previews, as well. We’ll return to the more traditional format for the home opener next weekend. For now, let’s focus on the optimism we find ourselves surrounded with as we prepare for center stage treatment and say goodbye to our #cf97withdrawals. Your Fire pump shouldn’t need too much priming today.

The 2015 season is starting on time following a head-scratching five year agreement between the MLS Players Union and league leadership earlier this week.

The opponent is the defending MLS Cup lifters, the Galaxy.

The Men In Red, on paper, are a better team than they were in 2014.

They are not 100% healthy as the season begins.

These are the four sides which will frame my perspective of tonight’s match. Join me, if you’d like, in watching this way.

Forget about #QuincyTime and adding DP’s and the fact that Landon Donovan won’t be lining up with his hand over his heart prior to kickoff. Block out each and every tie and troubling spot kick from 2014.

Smile as the opening whistle blows and scream at the television if you must. Do these things because optimism is refreshing, and because the taste 2014 left in your mouth was so, so bitter.

Let Tradition, Honor, and Passion guide you to the television screen. Hopefully, the squad will show you their version of those three tenets tonight. Then we can reunite at Toyota Park with the squad next weekend and share them together.

The one thing I will keep an eye out for on camera tonight is any Unimas shots of Los Angeles resident Andrew Hauptman. He will probably have an optimistic look on his face, but if the score line is 4-0 to the Galaxy when he pops up, I hope his expression reflects the visible difference between the league’s best franchise and his own.